Opinions on renting points vs. straight resort reservations

[310girls2]

Hi - You are all such talented budget masters I have learned so much from everyone. I was wondering if anyone had a different opinion on making resort reservations or by going the renting points route. I'm planning a trip in December and point wise it would roughly be $600.00 for a studio vs. making straight reservations. Any different insights from any budget wizard would be greatly appreciated. thanks everyone.. Nancy Oops! forgot to add that it would be for 5 nights!! thanks

 

[mousefansmom]

Hi-
We rented points in January, and our total was about the same as yours. We split our stay, half at CSR and half at BWV. The difference in price between the two was minimal and I would rent points again-
BUT---
I don't have to, because after staying at BWV my husband finally decided to buy into DVC!!
I loved CSR, but I loved the location of BWV better, as well as the extra space, refrig, micro, etc.
If you can rent points for a reasonable price, I say go for it! Remember also, that when you rent points, there is no tax added on. With that in mind, we stayed at the BWV for about $112 per night.
Good luck!
Mousefansmom

 

[KristiKelly]

We rented points last fall for BCV - loved it. DH agreed he would buy into DVC, but financially it's not in the cards right now. Anyway, I feel like for the price of a moderate, you get a deluxe plus some. We love having a balcony, no balcony @ moderates and with DVC studio you also get a refrigerator, microwave & toaster - not a full kitchen, but I'm on vacation - sandwiches, cereal, snacks, etc. is the extent of my "cooking". I would definitely rent points again, the only reason we're not renting on this years trip is that we qualified for Disney Visa 7/4 package. Hope this helps.

 

[crisi]

I've never rented points but am a DVC member.

Compare what you would spend with a straight resort reservation with the DVC point costs. DVC points are not always your best deal - holidays and weekend (and holiday weekends!) are really pricey point wise.

Pros with DVC - they are rooms in deluxe resorts (SSR and OKW are stand alone resorts, but would be classed as Deluxe). You won't pay tax. You'll get a mini kitchen in a studio. You could book a one or two bedroom.

Cons with DVC - the relationship with the member is a private transaction. Both of you incur some risk. If you cancel last minute, you probably won't be able to get your money back (they can't get their points back). And you could, theoretically, be scammed. A lot of people are thrown by the lack of housekeeping (DVC members don't tend to mind it - easy enough to take your own trash down to the trash room and throw your bed together, and you don't worry about housekeeping walking in on your shower).

Also keep in mind that a lot of the resorts book early. Wait and it isn't likely you will find much availablity for rooms in early December (a very popular time with DVC members) or over Christmas. The availablity of certain room types (notably for renters BWV standard view studios) is really tight and almost always books up eleven months out. At the time of year you are traveling, VWL is probably pretty full already (its a beautiful resort over the holidays).

 

[disneycrazed139]

Renting points is one of the best deals around. As someone mentioned, you are getting a deluxe resort for a moderate resort price. Just hop over to the DVC rent/trade board and I am sure there are plenty of people who can answer all of your questions about these transactions. From what I understand, they usually go pretty smoothly.

 

[Deb & Bill]

If you don't have a DVC reservation for Dec 5 now, you probably won't get one unless someone has a reservation that they don't want to use anyrmore and would like to sell it to someone else.

 

[zippehsmom]

This will be the second time that we have rented points from someone. So far so good. It does require trust because as stated before both parties are at risk. I know this is not a sure fire why of judging, but when I went looking to rent points, I looked at how many posts the person had, how long they had been a member of the boards. Again, this is full proof, but if they had a lot of posts and were members of this board for a while, it made me trust them a little more.

I just recently checked on disney.com & we are paying half of what we would be paying to stay 9 nights at BWV this July.


Good luck!

zippehsmom